Overview
Pharmacy Care Coordinator – Full Time
French Weir Health Centre, Taunton
Full-time – 37 hours per week | Temporary with a view to Permanent (Mat leave cover)
Looking for your next step in pharmacy or primary care?
French Weir Health Centre is looking for an enthusiastic and highly organised Pharmacy Care Coordinator to join our friendly and forward-thinking team.
French Weir Health Centre is a bustling GP Practice in the heart of Taunton, Somerset. Our team of 12 doctors looks after approximately 17,500 patients, supported by a large multidisciplinary team including Clinical Pharmacists, Pharmacy Technicians, nurses, healthcare professionals and our dedicated reception and administration teams.
This is an exciting role within our developing pharmacy team and would particularly suit someone who has previously worked within a community pharmacy, dispensary, GP prescribing team or another medicines-focused healthcare environment and is looking for an opportunity to develop their career.
About the role
The Pharmacy Care Coordinator will work closely with our Clinical Pharmacists, Pharmacy Technicians and GPs to coordinate medicines-related care for our patients.
A significant part of the role will involve identifying and supporting patients who require routine medication reviews and Structured Medication Reviews (SMRs), ensuring that appointments, monitoring and relevant information are organised so that our clinicians can concentrate on providing clinical care.
The role also supports a wide range of medicines optimisation work, including prescription processes, electronic repeat dispensing, medication monitoring, home blood pressure monitoring, vaccination programmes and pharmacy-related claims.
This is a non-clinical role, and you will not be expected to prescribe, make decisions about medication or provide clinical advice. However, because of the nature of the work, a good working knowledge of medicines, prescriptions and pharmacy processes is important.
Your responsibilities will include:
- Coordinating routine medication reviews and Structured Medication Reviews (SMRs)
- Identifying and contacting patients who are due medication reviews or monitoring
- Organising appointments, blood tests, blood pressure monitoring and other pre-review requirements
- Supporting our Clinical Pharmacists and Pharmacy Technicians with the organisation of pharmacy clinics
- Coordinating repeat prescribing and medicines-related administrative workflows
- Supporting Electronic Repeat Dispensing (eRD)
- Helping coordinate post-discharge medicines information and obtaining information from hospitals where required
- Supporting medicines monitoring and patient recall programmes
- Coordinating our home blood pressure monitoring pathway, including accurately recording readings and calculating averages
- Supporting vaccination and immunisation programmes
- Running agreed clinical system searches to identify patients requiring review, monitoring or additional support
- Preparing and supporting PPA/NHSBSA and other medicines-related claims, requiring a high degree of accuracy and attention to detail
- Maintaining accurate patient records and supporting data quality
- Helping patients navigate appointments, services and sources of support
- Working with colleagues across the wider multidisciplinary team to ensure patients receive well-coordinated care
- Contributing ideas to improve pharmacy, prescribing and medicines optimisation processes within the practice
Who are we looking for?
You do not need to be a pharmacist or registered Pharmacy Technician, but previous experience of working with medicines and prescriptions is important for this role.
This could be an excellent opportunity for someone currently working as a Pharmacy Dispenser, Pharmacy Assistant, Prescribing Administrator or experienced Prescription Clerk who is looking for a broader role and the opportunity to develop within primary care.
You will need to be confident working with medicines-related information and terminology and have excellent attention to detail. The role involves working with numerical information, including blood pressure readings and averages, activity data and financial claims, so good numeracy skills are essential.
You will also need to be comfortable using computer systems, managing a busy and varied workload and communicating directly with patients, pharmacies and healthcare professionals.
Essential requirements
- A good standard of general education, with a minimum of 5 GCSEs at grades 4–9 (A–C under the previous grading system), including English and Maths, or equivalent qualifications
- Previous experience working with medicines, prescriptions or dispensing within a healthcare environment
- A good working knowledge of common medicines and pharmacy/prescribing terminology
- Strong numeracy skills and confidence working with numerical information
- Excellent accuracy and attention to detail
- Good written and verbal communication skills
- Confident IT skills and the ability to learn new clinical systems
- Ability to organise and prioritise a varied workload
- Confidence to work independently within agreed procedures and recognise when something needs to be escalated to a clinical colleague
Desirable
- Previous experience in community pharmacy, a dispensary or GP practice
- Pharmacy dispensing or medicines-related qualification
- Experience of repeat prescribing or prescription administration
- Experience using EMIS Web or another GP clinical system
- Knowledge of Electronic Repeat Dispensing (eRD)
- Experience of NHSBSA/PPA claims
- Experience of patient recall, medicines monitoring or medication review processes
Training and development
This is a role we want the successful candidate to develop into.
The successful applicant will undertake the appropriate Personalised Care Institute-accredited Care Coordinator training, together with relevant personalised care and shared decision-making training.
Full training will also be provided in our practice systems, procedures and the specific medicines optimisation pathways required for the role.
The person
We're looking for someone who enjoys medicines but also enjoys people and problem-solving.
You will be organised, methodical and naturally attentive to detail, but equally comfortable picking up the telephone and speaking with a patient, pharmacist or clinician.
You'll need to be able to follow detailed processes without losing sight of the person at the centre of them, use your initiative within the boundaries of the role and recognise when something needs clinical input.
Above all, we are looking for someone who wants to become an integral part of our pharmacy team and help us develop the way we coordinate medicines-related care for our patients.
Working hours
Full-time: 37 hours per week
Working pattern to be agreed.
This is a permanent, practice-based role at French Weir Health Centre in Taunton.
Job Type: Full-time, Permanent
Benefits
- Company pension
- Cycle to work scheme
- Free parking
- On-site parking
- Training and development opportunities
Work Location: In person
Pay: £13.67 per hour
Benefits:
- Company pension
- Cycle to work scheme
- Free parking
- On-site parking
Experience:
- pharmacy or prescription clerk: 2 years (required)
Work Location: In person
